MUMBAI: Terming his fifth world championship title as the most difficult one to achieve, chess wizard Viswanathan Anand admitted that veteran Russian player Garry Kasparov's mind games did affect him during his title defence in Moscow in May.

"Normally I try not to read newspapers or websites on chess precisely for this reason. You might be affected by some comment or other. Unfortunately, in press conferences, you are asked pointed questions and then you try to find about things you tried not to read about. Still I think you try not to lose sight," Anand said on Saturday.

"It is important to know the main opponent is (Boris) Gelfand and not Kasparov. It is important to focus on the match...but this time it was there in the background and it was impossible to shut it out," said the 42-year-old five-time world champion at a promotional event organised by NIIT.

Former world champion Kasparov controversially remarked during the tournament that Anand should have retired from the game like he himself had done and that the Indian had lost motivation and had slid downhill over the last few years.